Pocket knife



' Feb. 18, 1947. I IE 2,416,277

POCKET KNIFE Filed Nov. 2, 1945 nmgzvrox;

I 311%? W I ATTORN EY Patented Feb. 18, 1947 POCKET KNIFE Sam Siege],Brighton, N. Y., assignor to Jerome J. Adams, New York, N. Y.

Application November 2, 1945, Serial No. 626,319

6 Claims.

This invention relates to pocket knives, more especially to acombination knife blade and holder therefor.

It is common practice in this art to provide a sheath for protection ofthe blade when not in use, in a form so that this same sheath willfunction alternately as a handle for the blade proper, thus facilitatingthe holding and the use of the blade, to a very great extent. In theusual form of pocket knife, it is customary for the blade to be pivotednear one extremity thereof, so that rotation of the blade will cause thesharp edge thereof to enter within the handle or sheath, while theunsharpened or thicker edge of the blade remains outside the sheath.Retraction of the blade from the sheath is then accomplished by graspingthe exposed edge of the blade and rotating it about the pivoted pointthereof. Since a spring device, or the equivalent thereof, is employedto maintain the blade securely in both its open and its sheathedposition, and since only a very narrow portion of the blade is availablefor grasping by the fingers of the user, it is customary to provide anotch or indentation upon one side of the blade, parallel to the backedge and slightly removed therefrom. The finger nail of the user maythen enter this notch and can then exert sufiicient forceto enablethe'blade to be opened up into a position ready for use.

In a knife of the type just described, it is frequently necessary toexert considerable force, via the finger nail of the user, in order .toretract the blade. The finger nail of the user is frequently damaged,and accomplishing the opening of the knife, so as to put it in acondition for use, is a clifiicult and often annoying operation. If theretaining spring be made weaker, in order to facilitate the opening ofthe knife, this will lead to the danger that the blade may not remain inthe fully opened position, when subjected during use to some relativelslight force which would tend to rotate it about the pivot thereof.

This invention comprises a pocket knife so constructed that it is notnecessary to use the finger nail, in order to open the blade intoposition ready for use, thus avoiding the difficulties and disadvantagesjust described.

One object of this invention is to provide a pocket knife in which theblade is easily transferred from a protected position within the handleor sheath, to an exposed position, ready for use.

Another object of this invention is to provide a pocket knife in whichtraction upon an exposed control element will cause the blade to assumethe openposition, ready for use.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a pocket knife inwhich use of the finger nails when moving the blade from closed to openposition, or vice versa, is not necessary.

Yet another object of this invention is to pro vide a pocket knife inwhich the element upon which force is exerted in order to open or closethe knife is in the form of a rigid finger-piece extending externally ofthe knife for a distance sufficiently great to permit an easy graspthereof by the ends of the fingers of the user, whereby ease ofoperation is secured.

Another purpose of this invention i to provide a pocket knife in whichthe blade may be caused to assume a position ready for use, with aminimum of exertion upon the part of the user, while at the same time,the blade, when once in such position ready for use, will not readily bedislodged therefrom except when an intentional closure of the blade isdesired.

Other purposes and advantages of the pocket knife of this invention willbe apparent to those skilled in the artby a consideration of thehereunto annexed drawings and from the following detailed disclosurethereof.

Reference is now made to the hereunto attached drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan View of the knife in closed position.

Fig. 2 is a view of the knife in closed position, broken away to showthe internal members.

Fig. 3 is a view of the knife in open position, broken away to show theinternal members.

Fig. 4 is a cross section on the lines 44 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 5 is a cross section on the lines 55 of Fig. 2.

Referring now especially to Figs. 1 and 2, the combination handle andsheath I9 is provided with aslot l l more clearly evident in Fig. 4.This slot extends for nearly the entire width of the handle, leavingonly a bridging portion 12, uniting the opposite sides of the handle.Transversely of the handle there extend two rivet like members l3 and l4, firmly ailixed to the handle proper by any suitable means such asriveting or welding.

Within the handle are located blade l5 and operating member l6, Blade I5is rotatably mounted upon element I3, which thereby functions as a pivotfor the blade. The pivoted end of the blade is provided with a pinion26, Operating member [6 lies Within slot l l and slides longitudinallytherein, the movement thereof to- 8 of a suitable shape, located so asto engage pinion 25 of the blade. The sliding of member I6 to the leftor right will thus cause rotation of blade 15 about pivotll'i. As member16 is pulled to the rightby engagement of thefinger tips of r the userwith a suitable shaped aperture Hi, provided in an externally extendingportion 28 of the operating member, the rack and pinion action of thearrangement just described, will cause blade I to rotate to the left,and assume the position shown in Fig. 3 to which reference is.nowadditionally made.

Operating member is has a recessed portion 2| at the rack end thereof.In this ,recess .is arranged a spring 22, engaging the bridging portionll of the handle, tending to force the rack and pinion into closefrictionalengagement'with one another and additionally increasing thedegree of force needed to operate the rack and pinion, thus reducing thepossibility of accidental operation thereof, Operating member 18 is alsoprovided with a slot 23. The portion 2a of this member, lying above slot23, is in contact with the main body portion ofmember H5 at one endonly, so that rivet l5 which-engages the upper surface of portion 24,will tend to force this resilient portion downwardly, thus increasingthe friction between the lower edge of member iii and bridge portion 12of the handle. Due to the controllable friction exercised both by spring22 and by portion 2 3, the amount of force necessarily exerted upon thefinger piece portion Ed, in order to cause extension or retraction ofthe blade l5, maybe set at a predetermined value.

It is to be noted that the provision of an ample finger-piece, having alarge aperturetherein, not only permits a greater force to be exertedthereupon with ease, but the aperture also permits the knife to besuspended from a chain or the like, if so desired. 1

While there have been shown certain embodiments of this invention, otherembodiments and modifications thereof will be apparent to those skilledin the art and the scope of this invention is limited only by thehereunto appended claims.

' What is claimed is:

1. A pocket knife including a handle provided with a "slot extendingsubstantially the entire lengthof the handle and for the'major portionof the width thereof, a blade member pivoted in said's'lotnear one endof the handle and provided with a pinion at the pivoted end thereof, asubstantially straight backed and non-resilient operating memberslidably mounted in said slot, having a rack at one end, engaging saidpinion of said blade member so as to rotate said blade memberupon'sliding of'said operating member, andihavinga resilient portionnear the other end thereof, .means for restraining said operating memberwithin said slot, and means for limiting the slidingmovementof saidoperating member, said operating, member including afinger-piece portionextending externally of said handle, and

said means for restraining said operating element within said slotincluding a pin transversely afiixed to said handle and frictionallyengaging said resilient portion of said operating member,

so as effectively to prevent longitudinal sliding motion thereof, untila predetermined degree of force is exerted upon said finger piece.

2. Apocket knife according to claim 1, in which the rack end of saidoperating member is slightly recessed at a point opposite the rack, andalso including a spring member located in the recess and pressingagainst the bottom of said slot, so as to increase the amount offorceneeded to operate said rack and pinion.

3. Apocket knife according to claim 1, inwhich said operating element ispro-vided with a stop member, laterally projecting substantially atright angles to said operating element, whereby longitudinal slidingmotion of said operating member is limited in extent in one direction bythe engagement of said stop member and said pin affixed to said handle,motion in the other direction being limited by the action of said rackand pinion.

4. A pocket knife of the type wherein a rack sliding within the knifesheath rotates a pinion upon one end of a'blade and causes the blade tobe alternatively extended or retracted, characterized in that the rackis substantially nonresilient as a whole but is formed with alongitudinal slot near one side thereof, thereby providing said rackwith a portion of sufficiently small cross section to be effectivelyresilient, the resilient portion has a tooth-like member projectingsubstantially at right angles therefrom, and

the sheath has a transverse pin against which said tooth-like memberengages laterallyysoas to limit the'inovement of the rack in onedirection.

5. A pocket knife comprising a hollow sheath formed with two parallelfiat walls and a bridge portion along one edge of'each, acting to spaceapart said walls, a blade pivotally mounted between said walls, near oneend of said sheath, a pinion surrounding the pivoted end of said blade,an operating element substantially non-resilient as a whole and slidablymounted between said walls, a rack at one end of said operating element,engaging said pinion, a resilient spring portion at the other end ofsaid operating element, a rivet affixed to said sheath and engaging saidspring portion so as to increase the sliding friction of said operatingelement, a stop member projecting substantially at right angles fromsaid operating element, tangentially engaging with said rivet to limitthe sliding of said operating element, and a spring recessed oppositesaid rack so as to increase the friction between said rack and saidpinion.

6. A pocket knife according to claim 5, in which said rivet is ofsubstantially circular cross section, and said stop member has the sidethereof which engages said rivet lying in a substantially fiat plane,whereby said stop member presses against said rivet substantially whollylongitudinally and requires no lateral movement to be disengagedtherefrom.

I SAM SIEGEL.

